Is Your MPS Sales Engine Stalling? – Part 2 of 2

Is Your MPS Sales Engine Stalling? – Part 2 of 2

Is your MPS sales engine stalling? Perhaps it’s a compensation issue or a management issue? Perhaps it’s a program issue or execution issue? All are relevant, but pinpointing the exact reason(s) can be frustrating.

Last week, in part one of this series, I compared your MPS sales program to working the clutch on a manual transmission in your car, and even touched on a few of the pros and cons of having a specialist helping you in your endeavor to sell and support managed print services. This week, I’d like turn our attention to considering this a little more holistically.

Let’s start with a high-level analogy, comparing your MPS organization, even your entire organization, to that of a racing team (NASCAR or Formula 1, as an example).

Crossing the Finish Line:

While you might be inclined to think of racing as an individual sport, often focusing on the talent of the driver – not all of the backend support; it is far from it! Think of your MPS sales (and support) offering as if you are building a racing team; you start with a few basics like a car, a driver, a pit crew, and a crew chief:

• The car is your program: If the car is only partially built, you can’t really go anywhere. You tune everything about chassis, engine and drive train to your needs.
• The driver is your MPS specialist: If you don’t have a qualified driver, who is going to get the car across the finish line? How he/she handles your prized car is key to seeing the results you desire.
• The pit crew is your support team: Sure a driver and car can make it around the track a few times, but who changes the tires and fills the tank with fuel? Good luck sustaining your sales engine with no pit crew.
• The tools keep your car running: Many different tools keep your car running, but training on how to use them is only a small part of the equation. Watch how fast the pit crew operates, driving towards as little inefficiency as possible; it is the practice and tight performance that is key to repeatable (and profitable) execution).
• The crew chief is your Champion: This person makes it all happen. Much like the conductor of an orchestra, this person keeps everyone focused on their tasks for the team to be successful.

Starting a race is no small task, but finishing a race takes the entire team’s commitment. More importantly it takes a strong vision, a solid business model clearly defining what success (and failure) looks like, commitment by the team to work together to win, and ensuring accountability. At the end of the day, the organization can never outgrow its leader. It is always the leader of the team, unit, or organization inhibiting success or inducing success.

Clarity and Focus:

The leader is responsible for setting the goals and direction, while your MPS champion’s role is to not only execute the detail of your plan, but help you navigate unforeseen obstacles standing between your team and cross the finish line each and every race.

Often, what I find at the root is a lack of clarity and focus. What is my target customer profile? What’s important to them? What pain points am I addressing? Did I communicate this well to my team (out there trying to get it done)? Is the compensation in line with my stated goals, and does my team even understand what my goals are?

While I could spend countless hours working on each of these issues, I have gravitated towards a set of exercises that help me focus. They are mystical or magical, but in essence they achieve the goal of establishing my value proposition for each customer profile.

I’ll share the high level of what I run through when conducting workshops, in case you run into the same problem I often do when tackling a new problem – or the same problem that won’t go away! That is, I am over-complicating things and miss the clarity and focus by stepping back and taking inventory.

(Note: This works individually, as a roll-up for a team exercise and for problem-solving program issues).

Let’s use an example of having problems breaking into the education vertical with an MPS program.

1. Commit to being open and honest, but fair and balanced.
2. Write down the problem statement, and be specific. This is not to place blame. (Our sales process is stalling after the assessment in primary education prospects, and we are unable to convince key decision makers signing with us is a good idea). (notice how I did not assign cause, just a statement).
3. Uncover All Causes: Once you’ve agreed (with yourself or others) this is an accurate problem statement, in writing, begin identifying possible causes. Allow for all objections, but then begin to probe for details of what specific queues did the prospect offer to bring you to this point. (Pricing: Stated they would need approval for this amount of money, Too much red tape: Contact stated they would need to send to RFP/Tender, etc.).
4. Redefine your customer profile, key decision-maker and influencer profiles. In other words, you should understand what is important to the organization based on macro- and local-trends in public education. (You should understand what is important to the Superintendant, Deputy Superintendent, CIO, Security Directory, Purchasing Director, Principals, Teachers, PTA, etc.).
5. Does your offering address problem/needs/wants in your target profiles?
6. Do you (does your team) understand the objectives in each step of the buying cycle? (In this scenario, qualifying the buyer’s authority/process is a concern, along with failure to adequately uncover real need/pain/want and tie this to your MPS program benefit statements).
7. Establish corrective action. Be specific, but don’t overwhelm yourself. (1. We are going to uncover procurement policy ahead of or during first meeting, 2. establish a management initiative list along with value, 3. close for introduction to other key decision makers in first meeting, and 4. seek ‘mini-close’ for “If we achieve the goals we’ve discussed, what obstacles do you see to us doing business together?”)
8. Establish feedback mechanism (measurement and frequency). The purpose here is to establish a way to ensure your four corrective actions are being implemented and allow for adjustment/corrective action. Be sure to focus on being specific to measure (yes/no) and time to report (weekly, monthly, per account etc.).

While the format of this blog makes this a bit cumbersome, I often leverage various worksheets I’ve created and collected over the years. It will seem hard at first, but when I have disciplined myself to use this method I have seen dramatic results in getting my own engine in gear!

While I go into more detail in various workshops I lead, I really wanted to share this with you as it has greatly helped me – and is really quite great at clearing the distractions and whittling away objections we tend to psychologically throw up.

For Our Market Intelligence Subscribers:

I’ll be covering one aspect of this issue, focusing on prospecting for new customers or attempting to convert your existing base. By highlighting key findings in our research and combining this with tips and tricks shared by industry experts, you won’t want to miss some of the answers on how to go about winning in MPS.

You know what, in the season of giving, you want to register for the event, I’ll open this up to you if you think you might benefit from this topic… but the webinar is at 4:00 PM (Eastern, GMT -5) today.

You can register for this session by following this link: Prospecting for MPS Gold: Should I Focus on New Prospects or Existing Customers?

Ken Stewart offers observations from the field of managed print services in his weekly column on MPS Insights every Tuesday. As a senior consultant with the Photizo Group, he comes from and works directly with channel providers in the managed services space, developing educational tools and resources to promote lasting business transformation.

Ken Stewart’s website, ChangeForge,focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology in an information-centric world. Get the latest industry news, and follow ChangeForge on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

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